In line with our racial justice lens and our commitment to youth in our communities, the Fund uses a participatory grantmaking approach to direct funding to organizations led by young women of color for young women of color. The Young Women’s Advisory Council, part of the Young Women’s Initiative launched in conjunction with the fund, is comprised of youth who engage in the grantmaking process, sharing their experiences, reviewing proposals, and making recommendations. The council has also helped to draft recommendations that have led to policy changes.

According to the report, more than 40% of NYC’s low-income Black and Latina girls are not provided with the support they need to finish high school, and Black girls are ten times more likely to be suspended than their white peers in NYC public schools. Combined with recent threats to immigrants and to gender justice, these issues illustrate the need to bolster the voices of young women of color and TGNC youth. In 2017, the Fund made grants to 14 new organizations, prioritizing smaller organizations led by women of color, in addition to its grants to established programs.

Our own Vice President of Programs Kaberi Banerjee-Murthy reflects on the impact of the Fund and how it has challenged the ways that local philanthropic organizations look at grantmaking. “The Fund has the potential to change how foundations do their work,” she said. “I think some of the Fund participants may have become more comfortable supporting new organizations or untested approaches. Some became willing to see outside volunteers as useful additions to the grants assessment process. And the effort as a whole really clarified the need to center girls and women of color. BCF has always operated along those lines, but I’ve had a few colleagues outside the Fund tell me: ‘We want to begin doing that, too!’”

Grants have addressed a broad spectrum of issues, including health, matters of educational and economic development, community activism and leadership, sexual and community violence, immigration, criminal justice, and anti-LGBTQi bias, creating what the report calls an ecosystem of organizations and programs that build on the unique strengths and leadership qualities of young women and TGNC youth of color.